JJ_BPK
01-29-2018, 06:18
Looks like you may want to ask your FAC what they are flying, before you ask for danger close??
The Air Force's 'Ultimate Battle Plane' Has A Major Gun Problem
Task & Purpose 26 Jan 2018 By Jared Keller
This article by Jared Keller originally appeared on Task & Purpose, a digital news and culture publication dedicated to military and veterans issues.
In the five years since the Air Force converted an MC-130J Combat Shadow II into a next-generation AC-130J Ghostrider ground-attack aircraft, Air Force Special Operations Command hasn't been able to stop bulking up the airframe's weapons systems. They added a 105mm cannon and are even considering the future installation of a frickin' laser beam to make the Ghostrider "the ultimate battle plane" for close air support; the Ghostrider's muscular arsenal has led AFSOC officials to call it "a bomb truck with guns on it."
But a new Pentagon report reveals a serious problem with this truck's guns. Buried in a January 2018 after-action from the DoD's Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (and flagged by our friends at The War Zone) is a relatively alarming assessment of the Ghostrider: The aircraft's fire control systems "performed inconsistently when accounting for changing ballistic conditions" like shifts in altitude and ambient wind; those factors frequently required in-flight recalibrations to ensure the gun and mount actually remained on target.
Even worse, the report states that recoil from the 30mm GAU-23/A cannon's full rate of fire (a blistering 200 rounds a minute) causes the gun to shake so aggressively that the fire control system's automatic safeguards kick in, and the operator has to allow the gun and mount to recenter before opening fire again. Both of these problems, the report notes, are absent from the Ghostrider's predecessor, the AC-130W Stinger.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/01/26/air-forces-ultimate-battle-plane-has-major-gun-problem.html?ESRC=eb_180129.nl
I can see that "performed inconsistently when accounting for changing ballistic conditions" is a real-time work effort. You can't tell until you get there what the ambient conditions are..
BUTT, "the gun to shake so aggressively that the fire control system's automatic safeguards kick in" is not something I would want to worry about..
If the shake-n-bake gun shifts point of aim by 1 deg, how much MOA error is induced?
:mad:
The Air Force's 'Ultimate Battle Plane' Has A Major Gun Problem
Task & Purpose 26 Jan 2018 By Jared Keller
This article by Jared Keller originally appeared on Task & Purpose, a digital news and culture publication dedicated to military and veterans issues.
In the five years since the Air Force converted an MC-130J Combat Shadow II into a next-generation AC-130J Ghostrider ground-attack aircraft, Air Force Special Operations Command hasn't been able to stop bulking up the airframe's weapons systems. They added a 105mm cannon and are even considering the future installation of a frickin' laser beam to make the Ghostrider "the ultimate battle plane" for close air support; the Ghostrider's muscular arsenal has led AFSOC officials to call it "a bomb truck with guns on it."
But a new Pentagon report reveals a serious problem with this truck's guns. Buried in a January 2018 after-action from the DoD's Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (and flagged by our friends at The War Zone) is a relatively alarming assessment of the Ghostrider: The aircraft's fire control systems "performed inconsistently when accounting for changing ballistic conditions" like shifts in altitude and ambient wind; those factors frequently required in-flight recalibrations to ensure the gun and mount actually remained on target.
Even worse, the report states that recoil from the 30mm GAU-23/A cannon's full rate of fire (a blistering 200 rounds a minute) causes the gun to shake so aggressively that the fire control system's automatic safeguards kick in, and the operator has to allow the gun and mount to recenter before opening fire again. Both of these problems, the report notes, are absent from the Ghostrider's predecessor, the AC-130W Stinger.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/01/26/air-forces-ultimate-battle-plane-has-major-gun-problem.html?ESRC=eb_180129.nl
I can see that "performed inconsistently when accounting for changing ballistic conditions" is a real-time work effort. You can't tell until you get there what the ambient conditions are..
BUTT, "the gun to shake so aggressively that the fire control system's automatic safeguards kick in" is not something I would want to worry about..
If the shake-n-bake gun shifts point of aim by 1 deg, how much MOA error is induced?
:mad: